Solving big problems by building local community

by Amy Reinholds

Since November, several people have shared stories with me about being disheartened after the presidential election but then motivated to take action to help make the country and the world a better place. The November 2016 national election was not the first time I felt discouraged by election results and a campaign where falsehoods were presented as facts. The most recent time I felt like this was in March 2015 after a post-flood local Town of Lyons special election, when a proposal for subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 units) in 5-7 acres of Bohn Park was voted down 614 to 498.

The good news? When people see problems aren’t solved in an election, they get to work addressing problems in other ways. After the March 2015 election, as an anecdote to what is now called “fake news,” I startedwriting monthly columns in the Lyons Recorder and other local papers, and blogging atlyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com. And I got involved with more groups looking for solutions for affordable housing.

After the November 2016 election, many Americans, including several Lyons area residents, are inspired to volunteer and organize to protect not only the health of the land, but also a living wage for workers, and the well-being of marginalized neighbors – to make America a kinder place. A local group in the Lyons community has formed with the following mission statement: “Colorado Conscious Action protects human rights and our environment through citizen engagement, education, and empowerment. We value tolerance, respect, and diversity, and bring conscious voice and action in support of justice for all.” With this new movement, I’m now in the company of some Lyons community members who campaigned or voted on the opposite side of the local March 2015 special election about affordable housing in Bohn Park. It’s an opportunity for me to listen and learn about others’ views and what brings us together.

I’m grateful for the positive guidance in Sarah van Gelder’s new book “The Revolution Where You Live.” Now available at the Lyons Regional Library, the inspiring book gives examples of communities that are solving big problems locally at a grassroots level, places she visited on a 12,000 mile trip across the country in August-December 2015. You can ask for it next time you visit our local library in Lyons, reserve it atlyons.catalog.aspencat.info/Record/898027, or buy your own copy atrevolutionwhereyoulive.org.

The author traveled to 18 states, visiting American Indian reservations, large industrial cities, and small towns. She tells the stories of communities that stopped coal mining and fracking, and found new economies instead, and communities both rural and urban that created farming cooperatives and worker-owned businesses after corporate economies failed. Other communities she visited were promoting healing through restorative justice, healthy pregnancies, and reconciliation from a legacy of racism.

She observed five strategies that worked: building bridges between people who are separated, reconnecting to a community’s ecological home, rebuilding the local economy, building power, and creating spaces for healing, creativity, and spirit.

“Revolutionaries of the past have looked for something grand, something more important than community-level change,” van Gelder writes. “But change that starts from the bottom up is more like evolution, drawing on the full complexity of who we are. That complexity is possible in the rich networks of interaction with people that happens at the local level. Face-to-face, we are less likely to stereotype each other or resort to oversimplified ideologies.”

The book includes a list of “101 Ways to Reclaim Local Power,” a valuable resource. Here are some of my favorites:

Learn about the original people whose land you live on, acknowledge them, and share their stories.

Find out who in your community is not free (such as buried in debt, in prison), and support their vision of liberation, or at least help them connect.

Hold celebrations featuring diverse foods, music, dance, and art from cultures and traditions that make up your community.

Recognize that traumatized people need to define for themselves what they require to heal, and they don’t need to be second-guessed or “helped.”

Encourage retiring business owners to sell their businesses to their workers, and help the workers form cooperatives.

Crunch local government data on the affects of policies on the well-being of various groups of people, the environment, and the community as a whole, and share with journalists and the public.

Learn about police practices in your community: Are people of color or immigrants disproportionately stopped, arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced? Are police confiscating property, or is the inability to pay fines resulting in extended prison time? What is the mechanism for civilian oversight?

With your neighbors, prepare for natural disasters and other emergencies. Structure plans around the most vulnerable.

Sponsor election debates. The people who are most marginalized should moderate and ask the most questions.

Hold regular shared meals (in parks, community centers, or churches) that are free, so people who are hungry can participate without shame.

After the September 2013 flood, the Town of Lyons lost a total of about 70 flood-destroyed homes to both the federal buyout programs (including one buy out of a mobile home park) and to the changed use of a second mobile home park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use). At the end of 2016, Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley purchased six residential lots to build three permanently affordable duplexes.

For history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns posted on my blog atlyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com. This column is a weekly commentary (opinion column) about affordable housing in the Lyons Recorder. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds @hotmail.com.

COMMENTARY: What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

Planning Commission discusses tiny homes as ADUs

In early December 2016, the Lyons Board of Trustees approved changes to town code to encourage accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as carriage houses or mother-in-law apartments.

Hoping to inspire homeowners in residential neighborhoods to build more smaller rental units at the lower end of the market, the board approved ordinance changes that allow even separate buildings to share the utilities with the main house. (Read more athttps://lyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/trustees-change-lyons-town-ordinances-to-encourage-adus.) Although several homeowners have contacted Lyons Town Hall about the ADU process, no one has yet officially started the conditional use review process, which is required for ADUs in single-family residential zones.

On Monday, Feb. 13, the Planning and Community Development Commission (PCDC) and town planning staff returned to the topic of whether tiny homes could be added in to town code to be allowed as ADUs, something that the Mayor and the Board of Trustees sent back to the PCDC to come up with a recommendation. The research from planning staff, local fire officials, and commissioners is continuing. They have pulled in information from local business owners who manufacture and sell tiny homes on wheels (Simblissity), and operate a lodging business (WeeCasa).

The term “tiny homes,” does not refer to small cottages or structures that are stick-built and constructed on a residential property. Instead, it describes a trend that started in the early 2000s of small constructed homes that are on built on a trailer frame with axles and wheels, registered like recreation vehicles (RVs).

The PCDC commissioners said Monday that the main challenge is finding where these tiny homes on wheels fit with current standards that building inspectors, fire and safety, and insurance companies use. Many municipalities across the country are dealing with similar issues – how and why to treat these structures, similar to stick-built cottages, but on a trailer frame.

The PCDC and Town of Lyons planning staff Bob Joseph and Matt Manley defined the following issues:

Tiny homes on wheels don’t fit with the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) standards for manufactured housing (mobile homes), which are larger than 400 square feet, built in HUD-authorized assembly locations, and inspected for specific manufactured housing building codes.

Tiny homes on wheels don’t fit with International Residential Code (IRC) that building inspectors for Town of Lyons and municipalities around the country use. The PCDC discussed that if the same sized-building that is built off-site and put on a trailer was instead built on the land, it would not be a problem, except for a few changes such as knock-out windows from bedroom lofts, and maybe exceptions for ladders and stairwells.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1192 Standard on Recreational Vehicles is what currently applies to any RV, which is how tiny homes on wheels are currently classified. But most municipalities and companies that inspect residential structures don’t allow people to live permanently in RVs. PCDC Commissioner Neil Sullivan said that even while the building quality is like a stick-built home, and a higher standard than campers, “the tiny home industry has jumped on the bandwagon of RVs because it’s a loophole.”

The PCDC commissioners preferred an approach where tiny homes follow the more stringent IRC standards (mentioned in item 2), as if they were built on site, but with more research on how town code and inspection processes could change to allow them on residential lots in town. The commissioners and planning staff are looking at two scenarios – homes placed on foundations or left on wheels – and they want more input from the fire officials.

The discussion ended Monday night with next steps to determine what the Lyons Fire Protection District will find agreeable for standards of tiny home on wheels secured as ADUs on residential lots in town. They also will work with the company that performs building inspections for the Town of Lyons.

One reason the PCDC just got back to this topic is because of packed meeting agendas for other topics like reviewing the final drafts of the Lyons Primary Planning Area master plan (an addition to the Lyons Comprehensive Plan), which will guide town leaders on future decisions if landowners in the Primary Planning Area request to annex into the Town of Lyons. A public hearing on the master plan could be as early as March 13.

Also, the PCDC and town planning staff have been working on a request from the Board of Trustees to recommend appropriate limits for homeowners who want to rent out rooms or their houses as short-term vacation rentals. The PCDC held a workshop to hear input from homeowners who now rent out lodging in their homes, currently not allowed if in residential zones unless approved as a bed and breakfast through a conditional use review. The PCDC and staff expect to compile and discuss a summary of possibilities at their next workshop, Feb. 27. When official recommendations are ready, public hearings will be scheduled.

For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog at lyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com. Check out town meetings for yourself: All meetings for the elected Lyons Board of Trustees and appointed town boards and commissions on the town calendar at www.townoflyons.com/calendar.aspx. All meetings are open to the public, and many include portions of the agenda for public comment.

The Town of Lyons lost a total of about 70 flood-destroyed homes to both the federal buyout programs (including one buy out of a mobile home park expected to close soon) and to the changed use of a second mobile home park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use). In March 2015, a proposal for subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 units) on five to seven acres of Bohn Park was voted down 614 to 498 by Town of Lyons voters in a special election. At the end of 2016, Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley purchased six residential lots to build three permanently affordable duplexes.

This column is a weekly commentary in the Lyons Recorder. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds @hotmail.com.

COMMENTARY: What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

State bills aim to encourage affordable housing

by Amy Reinholds

A couple of bills in the Colorado state legislature this year aim to encourage more affordable housing in the state. One bill to make it easier for private developers who aren’t housing authorities or government entities to build, own, and rent out permanently affordable rentals died in the senate this week. Another bill, a construction litigation reform bill that aims to encourage developers to build more condos, has been introduced and is under consideration, not yet scheduled for the senate floor.

Senate Bill 86, sponsored by Steve Fenberg (D-Boulder), whose constituents include Lyons, sponsored a bill to clarify that the Colorado statute prohibiting rent control on private residential housing units does not prohibit local governments from adopting housing programs with permanently affordable rates for rentals, sometimes called inclusionary housing programs. Fenberg said that the bill, which would have allowed developers (instead of a housing authority or government) to more easily own a permanently affordable rental unit, resulting in more affordable rentals built in market-rate development projects, died on a party-line vote this week.

Senate Bill 156, sponsored by Senator Owen Hill (R-Colorado Springs), Representative Lori Saine (R-Firestone), and Representative Cole Wist (R-Centennial), intends to reduce the number of lawsuits for faulty construction of condominiums in current Colorado construction defect law, a barrier some developers have blamed for a slow-down of condo development in Colorado. Supporters of reforming the constructions defect laws hope to encourage more condo development in Colorado, which is a lower-cost home-ownership model.

The Homeownership Opportunity Alliance – a diverse collaboration of business groups, affordable housing advocates like Habitat for Humanity, developers, contractors, and metro area mayors (including the Town of Lyons mayor) – supports Senate Bill 156. For the bill to succeed, the Republican sponsors will have to find Democrat supporters as well, balancing the goal to reduce the number of lawsuits filed for faulty construction but still to protect the consumer rights of people buying condos in Colorado.

The current Colorado construction defect law, created to protect would-be home buyers from poor workmanship in new construction, allows as few as two condo owners to bring a class-action suit against a builder, and does not allow the builder to make fixes before the suit proceeds. With these current laws, developers have said that builders are less inclined to begin condo projects.

If there are fewer condos built, they are harder to find for entry-level or first-time homebuyers. However, Colorado doesn’t want condo homeowners to be at risk for shoddy construction, either. It’s a balance.

The Denver Business Journal reported in late January that House Speaker Crisanta Duran, (D-Denver) said she was open to changing the law to have a greater threshold than the current two required homeowners to participate in construction defects lawsuits.

As of Feb. 7, the bill was still under consideration but not scheduled.

I expect to write more about bills and proposed changes in state law that will affect Colorado and Lyons. On the local front, keep up with local Town of Lyons meetings for the elected Lyons Board of Trustees and appointed town boards and commissions on the town calendar atwww.townoflyons.com/calendar.aspx. All meetings are open to the public, and many include portions of the agenda for public comment.

For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog atlyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com. The Town of Lyons lost a total of about 70 flood-destroyed homes to both the federal buyout programs (including one buy out of a mobile home park expected to close soon) and to the changed use of a second mobile home park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use). In March 2015, a proposal for subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 units) on five to seven acres of Bohn Park was voted down 614 to 498 by Town of Lyons voters in a special election. At the end of 2016, Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley purchased six residential lots to build three permanently affordable duplexes.

This column is a weekly commentary in the Lyons Recorder. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds @hotmail.com.

COMMENTARY: What’s the future of affordable housing in Lyons?

The Lyons Planning and Community Development (PCDC) heard input on Jan. 30 from Lyons area homeowners who rent out rooms or their homes as short-term vacation rentals, few of them following current regulations for their zoning or locations.

According to current Town of Lyons code, short-term (shorter than 30 days) vacation rentals in residential zoning districts in Lyons are not allowed unless homeowners have been approved as a bed and breakfast through a conditional use review. No homeowner in a residential R zone has applied for this conditional use since the code was created.

About 20 people attended the PCDC informal workshop on Jan. 30, and several spoke about the built-in safeguards of renting their rooms through websites like AirBnb.com and VRBO.com. They also spoke about their interest in only renting out their rooms some of the time, instead of to full-time roommates. Most of the people who spoke said they rent out only one room or suite with a private bath and they are usually home.

Apart from a business owner of commercial property in Town of Lyons, and a Town of Lyons resident who lives in an Estate Residential (E) zone (where a bed and breakfast is allowed as a principal use for less than 6 units, with a business license), all other vacation rental hosts in the Town of Lyons who spoke are not following current Town of Lyons code when they rent out rooms or their houses for short-term vacation rentals.

A woman who spoke at the meeting who lives in rural Larimer County said there were no regulations for short-term vacation rentals in Larimer County. However, when I called the Larimer County Community Development department, I was told that short-term rentals of rooms, part of a house, or the entire house, are not allowed unless approved in the appropriate zoning district by special review as a “resort cabin or cottage.” A Town of Lyons homeowner who spoke said he had rented his home on VRBO.com in another Colorado town, but now in Lyons, his neighborhood homeowners association doesn’t allow short-term vacation rentals.

Several vacation rental hosts who spoke Jan. 30 said they have purchased required homeowners insurance coverage for short-term vacation rentals, but the rest might be at risk for uncovered costs of damage or maybe at risk for losing their homeowners insurance. Some of the hosts said they liked the idea of a checklist resource of what each guest host should do for safety.

PCDC commissioners wanted to know if short-term vacation rentals on residential zones were made legal, what limits the homeowners would find reasonable – a safety registry, a flat occupancy fee per night that goes to the Town of Lyons, inspections, requirements of owner occupancy, requirements to provide an off-street parking space, and limits of number of rental nights in a calendar year.

So why am I interested in writing about short-term vacation rentals in my affordable housing column? Back in August 2016, the Board of Trustees meeting directed the PCDC and Town of Lyons planning staff to draft a policy for short-term vacation rentals in Lyons. After reading a document presented by consulting town planner Bob Joseph, there was consensus from the mayor and trustees that there should be some limits on short-term vacation rentals on single-family home zoned residential lots.

The main reasons discussed for this direction was the shortage of year-round rentals for people who work in town, and the goal to keep Lyons residential neighbors as residential. Joseph’s document stated “Although not mutually exclusive, the goals of increased housing (especially rentals) and the possible goal of allowing short-term vacation rentals are at odds with each other. Short-term vacation rentals will consume available housing stock, and might act to drive up housing costs in the long run.”

A common argument that proponents of no restrictions to short-term vacation rentals give is that it helps people afford to buy homes in Lyons. But that approach would only help people who can qualify to purchase the mostly $400,000-$500,000 range of homes available in Lyons. Not everyone can afford to buy a house at that price, even if the Town of Lyons granted unlimited, no-cost ways to make money renting out rooms on AirBnb year round. How many local Lyons businesses pay enough for employees to be able to qualify to buy a $400,000 or $500,000 home?

The PCDC sent a Town of Lyons email inviting the community to this week’s workshop, stating that the current regulation against short-term vacation rentals without a conditional use as a bed and breakfast “has not been enforced since code updates are needed.” The statement said the commission is interested in making recommendations to the Lyons Board of Trustees that would make short-term vacation rentals legal in residential zones while also providing some stipulations that would work to maintain the character of Lyons neighborhoods. Before those decisions are made, the PCDC commissioners said they want to hear from residents who have an opinion on the topic or experience with short-term vacation rentals.

PCDC chair Gregg Oetting said at the workshop that under current code, if a homeowner in a residential areas doesn’t get a bed and breakfast license and neighbors complain, the Town of Lyons has responsibility to do something about it.

In general, from the 10-15 vacation rental hosts who spoke to the PCDC commissioners at the workshop, safety registry and owner occupancy requirements were acceptable to most, and several expressed that a flat occupancy fee for lodging in Town of Lyons was also acceptable. State law says Colorado sales tax should be collected and paid for short-term vacation rentals. In the future, if there is a local occupancy flat fee for vacation rentals and lodging in Lyons, AirBnB could collect and distribute that fee as well as the state taxes.

The PCDC commissioners expressed interest in policies that might allow renting out just one room at a time, with an on-premise homeowner, and requiring the bed and breakfast conditional use application if more than one bedroom is rented out simultaneously. AirBnB hosts who spoke mentioned that they want quiet tenants and require quiet times and limited access hours because they live in the house while guests are there.

One thing that won’t change is that short-term vacation rentals are not allowed in accessory dwelling units (apartments in a house, garage, or outbuilding that are allowed to share utilities with the main house but are intended to encourage more long-term rentals for people who work in town).

The PCDC and Lyons planning staff Matt Manley and Bob Joseph compiled information from other communities about short-term vacation rentals, including those that charge a local community occupation fee, a flat fee per night, around $25 or $50 to cover administrative costs of running the registration program. I expressed support for a suggestion from one AirBnB host who spoke that maybe the community occupation fee could also support affordable housing, such as additional grants to encourage landlords in town to take Section 8 or Veteran’s housing vouchers for long-term rentals.

Some questions that I think the PCDC and the town planning staff should be asking the other municipalities is why they decided to create the short-term vacation rental policies for residential zones that they did, instead of requiring special use reviews to operate lodging businesses in residential zones. Also, did the other communities determine per-night occupancy fees based on visitors’ additional use of town infrastructure or safety costs, such as fire and police?

Also related, I think both Town of Lyons residents and business owners would greatly benefit from knowing some basic numbers of both 1) how much additional revenue comes in to local business (and generated sales tax revenue to Town of Lyons) from tourism related businesses, including lodging and entertainment and wedding venues, and 2) how much additional costs to the Town are incurred from the number of tourists who come to those destination businesses. Then our Town of Lyons leaders can set goals and strategies for the town based on data.

I know I live in a tourist town. I accept that fact, and I enjoy many of the aspects of living in an area that draws visitors, whether they are here to enjoy our Town of Lyons parks for free, to spend a little money on a meal or drinks and a live band, to pay hundreds of dollars for an outdoor festival experience, or to spend thousands of dollars on a wedding celebration. But our Town leaders need to make decisions that are based on facts and data, not just a general feeling that anything that encourages visitors who have money always benefits the Town of Lyons.

If any changes move forward in Town of Lyons code, there will be official public hearings for both the PCDC and the Lyons Board of Trustees. Because these codes are under review right now, Town of Lyons staff said that the Town of Lyons is not reviewing any requests for conditional use reviews or business licenses for bed and breakfasts until any code changes are finalized.

Also on Jan. 30, the PCDC commissioners reviewed another Lyons Primary Planning Area Master Plan draft, which will give guidance for future annexations to the Town of Lyons. They determined next steps should be one more round of edits, a workshop for commissioners to discuss on Feb. 13, and then notifying Boulder County for participation in a public hearing (required because the Primary Planning Area is set by an Intergovernmental Agreement with Boulder County and the Town of Lyons). The Master Plan must be adopted before any new annexation process is completed.

For a history of post-flood efforts for affordable housing in Lyons, you can read previous columns from both Lyons-area newspapers posted on my blog atlyonscoloradonews.wordpress.com. The Town of Lyons lost a total of about 70 flood-destroyed homes to both the federal buyout programs (including one buy out of a mobile home park expected to close soon) and to the changed use of a second mobile home park property to an event venue (rezoned for commercial use). In March 2015, a proposal for subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 units) on five to seven acres of Bohn Park was voted down 614 to 498 by Town of Lyons voters in a special election. At the end of 2016, Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley purchased six residential lots at 2nd and Park in Lyons, to build six permanently affordable homes (three duplexes).

All town meetings of the elected Lyons Board of Trustees and appointed town boards and commissions are open to the public and are intended to be posted on the town calendar atwww.townoflyons.com/calendar.aspx. This column is a weekly commentary in the Lyons Recorder. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints about this column, please contact me directly at areinholds @hotmail.com.

Editor/Author of this blog

Amy Reinholds served on the Housing Recovery Task Force in Lyons, Colo., from December 2013 through its end in February 2015. She is currently a member of the Lyons Human Services and Aging Commission and served as a liaison to the Special Housing Committee during its existence from April 2015-April 2016. She has lived in Lyons since 2003 and in the surrounding Lyons area since 1995.